Not for Long
by Readywolf02
Summary: Part one of my science fair projects. Random somewhat Nalu drabble and inspired by Mirajane's Theme
1. Crimson Tragedy

**Hey guys! I'll be posting a few oneshots since they're my science fair project which I'm finishing last minute...hehe.. but yeah these are inspired from different types of music, and this one was inspired by Mirajane's Theme. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't ownFairy Tail or its characters**

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Not for Long

Chapter 1: Crimson Tragedy

I stare at the ground. My shoes are muddy. I look up at the sky. The clouds are covering the blueness of the sky with their grey, cottony fingers.

"Lucy!" My father calls from the house. I look back at him with clouded eyes. My regular eyes. Dad says to his coworkers that my eyes haven't had the same sparkle to them since _she _passed away. He says I don't have the same cheery voice or the same golden smile. I don't mind. Everything changes, right?

"Come inside, Lucy! It's going to rain!" He calls again. He's scared of the rain. Of the gloominess it emits. I know why. It rained the day Mom died. It rained the day she was buried. It rained the day I was born. I shuffle into the house, wiping my muddy shoes on the flagstone just outside of the door. The rain starts, tiny drops of water falling from the heavens. I outstretch my hand, allowing the drops to fall onto my palm. They're cold, and I retreat my hand, walking back into the white and cream kitchen. Dad's sitting at the dinner table, his reading glasses set loosely on the strong bridge of his nose. He's reading an e-mail, probably, looking at his laptop screen with a stern look.

"I'll start dinner," I say in a voice the both of us have gotten accustomed to. The bored, monotone voice of mine hardly fills the stale room, like an unsatisfying meal. I turn to tie on my floral apron. I take out the needed ingredients for spaghetti.

I slip on my shoes, and head out the front door. I walk down my regular street, listening to my regular music in my regular headphones. Nothing changes here. I see Mrs. Herring, still in her robe and slippers and picking up the newspaper that I'm surprised people still read these days. I wave at her with my usual fake smile, and she waves back cheerfully. I continue down the road, towards my high school. I make sure to pull down my long sleeves, just the slightest.

"What're you doing near _our _lockers?" The girls hiss, but I'm sure they know I walk this way to get to my own locker. The popular girls call me names, the football players trip me. I'm used to it. I get up, dust off my uniformed skirt, and continue down the hallway. I try to ignore the stinging emitting from my wrists like wildfires. These shoes are muddy now, too, I notice.

"Lucy!" A boy calls. I turn my head. I thought no one knew my name? He stands next to my locker, dark eyes smiling at me.

"Do I know you?" I ask, a grin illuminating his face. He shakes his head. "Then how do you know my name?"

"I'm in your first hour. I'm new to this school, and Mrs. Dreyar told me you'd be showing me around!" He grins again.

"Alright. Lemme go ask her about it first, sorry. She never told me about this," I say sheepishly. He follows me the whole way to Mrs. Dreyar's classroom.

"Mrs. Dreyar?" I ask politely.

"Oh, Lucy! I've already told the other teachers you might be tardy or absent in their classes. Go ahead and show Natsu the school, would you?" She smiles nicely at me, and I nod, retreating from the classroom.

"Okay, well, I guess we'll start with the front of the school," I say to him. His name is Natsu, apparently.

"Alright."

"Where are you from?" I ask, trying to break the ice.

"I'm from Florida, but we moved around a lot as a kid 'cause of my dad's work, so we lived in Japan for about ten years," He says.

"Your name means summer, right?" I question him, recognizing the word from my anime phase.

"Yeah! How'd ya know?"

"I used to watch anime a lot," I whisper. He laughs.

"I still do," He says in a quiet voice filled to the brim with humor. I show him the front office, the staff waving and smiling at us, acting as if they were such friendly people.

I finish showing him around, and it's nearly third hour. The rest of the day passes in a blur. When the dismissal bell screams, everyone rushes for the doors, and we flood out of the building like a wave. As I walk down the cement, the foot of the school's quarterback thrusts out in front of me, successfully sending my bag flying, and I'm not too far behind. I expect the sting of the pavement, the embarrassment of scrambling for my things, and the jeering laughter bombarding my ears, but it never comes. Instead, a hand clamps down on my wrist, a scream crawling up my throat at the pain. I swallow it, just like every other real emotion.

"You alright?" He asks. I nod and quickly gather my books and binders that had launched out of my bag.

"Thanks," I murmur quietly to him, and scamper off to start in my route home. I hear him following me.

"You didn't seem that shy this morning, why now?" Natsu asks from beside me. I shrug my shoulders nonchalantly, letting them drop back down lifelessly a moment after.

"Because everyone else was there. I'm the school's punching bag, y'know?" I laugh. He doesn't.

"Let's change that," He says in a voice, completely serious. I look at him over my shoulder, clinging onto my bag strap. "Let's make people know no one should be treated like that, yeah?" He grins, a blinding smile. I stare, dumbfounded at him for a moment and smile a smile that doesn't live long. We had stopped in the middle of the road; it was my fault. I had stopped out of surprise form his words. The car swerved violently, but it wasn't enough. The vehicle slammed into him, knocking him on the ground, and the red fluid was suffocatting me. I stare in horror, unable to move, unable to think.

And then I scream.


	2. Scarlet Fear

**I guess I'm making this into a multi-chapter story since my friends yelled at me and made me make more chapter so umm here's chapter 2?**

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima, not me**

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Not for Long

Chapter 2: Scarlet Fear

The driver shoots out of the car. They shout and scream. What are they saying? I stare at the ground. These shoes are bloody. Rough hands clutch onto my shoulders. I look up to see woman shouting at me. Fear and guilt and horror are scattered in her hazel eyes.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! IS THIS YOUR FRIEND? DARLING ARE YOU OKAY?! THE PARAMEDICS ARE ON THEIR WAY!" She screams. Her skin and chocolate hair look fuzzy. Everything does. Then I hear the screeching of a siren way too loud, and hands guide me towards the vehicle. An old-feeling blanket is tossed over my shoulders. I watch absentmindedly as my new friend is hauled into the truck on a stretcher. Do torsos normally look so dented? Do arms normally look so twisted? Are bodies normally so red? The rushing people ask me questions that I mindlessly respond to. Then we're in the back and Natsu's hooked up to all kinds of things. The woman is sobbing. I stare at him. I frown. Will he have flowers and presents sent to him? Will anyone be worried about him, other than his family? Does he have any friends here? _Will he live?_

Soon I'm in a waiting room, trying my best to comfort the sobbing woman, spouting about how horrible of a person she is and how she'll never forgive herself. I'm offered a cup of stale-tasting water when a man and a young girl hustle in through the glass doors. The man is probably somewhere in his late-thirties. His hair is messy and incredibly red. It's a brighter hue than Natsu's blood. His eyes look sharp and the stubble that lines his jaw seems a little too plentiful. His large hand is gripped tightly around the tiny hand of the young girl. Her skin is like porcelain; dainty and breakable. Gooey brown eyes reflect worry and fear and her indigo hair is tucked underneath her baby blue backpack, as if she threw it on in a matter of seconds. A man rushes over to them, asking something about family. The red-haired man looks angry, but he stomps towards the row of chairs and plops into one two chairs down from me. The indigo-haired girl sits gingerly in the seat beside him.

"E-Excuse me..?" I ask the man. His head snaps towards me, sharp eyes cold and all too familiar. I hardly notice how I shrink back the tiniest bit at the action, but he seems to catch it. His eyes soften the slightest.

"Yeah?" He inquires in a warm, rough voice.

"Are you, by any chance, Natsu's father?" His eyes widen at the name; I take it as a yes.

"Are you a friend of his?"

"Y-yeah. I showed him around school today."

"Would it be alright if you could...tell me what happened?"

"Y-yeah..." I explain to his father that Natsu had caught me before I fell. I told him about that look of determination in his eyes. I told him about how I hadn't realized I'd stopped in the middle of the road how the car slammed into him. Natsu's father thanked me.

"Oh, by the way, this is my daughter, Wendy."

"You're Natsu's sister?" Wendy nods her head shyly. Her eyes look glossy.

After talking to Natsu's family, I turn back to the woman who was driving the car. Her knees are drawn against her chest and her head is dug into her jean-clad legs.

"Hey...would you like something to drink? Something to eat?" I ask her. Her tear-stained face slowly picks itself up from her knees, and she looks at me. She shakes her head.

"No, thank you. But how are you so kind? I...I hit y-your fr-" her sentence is cut short when a sob erupts from her throat again and her hands fly over her face. I stand and help her up. I help her to the bathroom and wash her face and comfort her, telling her it wasn't her fault. It feels nice to be so kind to someone. When we sit back down, my phone vibrates in my right pocket. I retrieve it and read the text from Dad.

_**Where are you. Why aren't you home yet.**_

School ended two hours ago.

_**I'm at the hospital. My friend got in an accident.**_

I send the text. Not too long after, the same man who talked to Natsu's dad comes and tells them they can visit him in room 207. Want to go with them, but they only allow family members. As I lean back in my chair, the glass doors open again, revealing the tall figure of my father. I have to leave. I give one last reassuring smile to the woman, whose name is Kelsey before approaching my dad. He grabs me by the arm and we leave the building. He throws me into the back seat and I barely have time to buckle my seatbelt before he speeds off at a speed that scares me. The car is too fast, everything is too loud. I keep seeing someone in front of the speeding vehicle by there's no one there. My body is shaking. I don't like the dreadful feeling of fear.

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Hope you liked it! Don't forget to review, and have a great day!


	3. Vermillion Despair

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima**

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Not for Long

Chapter 3: Vermillion Despair

Dad pulls into the still-damp driveway of our small home. He stalks into the house before I move at all. I want to go back to the hospital. I want to get away from my father and comfort Kelsey and talk to Natsu and his family. They seem so much nicer. I'm hauled from my thoughts when I hear a knock on the glass window of the car. A stern look digs into Dad's face. Has he always had such deep wrinkles? I nod at him with empty eyes and scoot to exit the car. He goes back inside. When I escape to my bedroom, I realize that's when emotions wash over me. What caused them? The happiness of making a friend? The horror of watching a car crash into him? The trauma of watching him struggle with every breath in the all too-loud ambulance? The sadness for Kelsey? The fear of my own father? It's then when realization hits me. This happened to me all in one day. Sure, I have problems daily, dealing with my father and my low status at school, but this was... a lot. It reminds me of Mom's passing. I shake the thoughts from my mind and change into warm pajamas that comfort me in a strange sort of way. I curl up on my bed, hugging my knees against my chest. The tapping of rain drops against my window is both distracting and calming. My humming fills the emptiness of my bedroom softly. I hum a tune hardly familiar to me as I pull my laptop onto my lap. When these vice boots up, I plug in my white headphones, open my iTunes, select a certain playlist, and then open Microsoft Word. My mind wanders, thinking of anything to type onto the blank screen. Four songs have passed by now. By the fifth song my hands are forced onto the keyboard and type out beautiful nonsense. I tie the words together lovingly and carefully and pound them with punctuation. My hands continue to scramble across the keyboard until I realize that the only light in the room is a solid white light emitting from my computer screen. I decide to stop for the day. Or for now, at least. I set aside my laptop and head downstairs. Dad's asleep on the couch, but the TV is blaring. They're talking to a girl who's been reduced to a sobbing mess. It's Kelsey. She angrily wipes at the tears and clears her throat.

"Was there anyone else with Mr. Dragneel?" A female reporter asks, nearly stuffing the mic into the brunette's face.

"Yes, h-he had a friend with him, I never caught her name but she wasn't harmed. She was really nice to me," Kelsey says looking straight at the camera, as if knowing I was watching. Maybe she does.

"Can you describe to us what the girl looked like?"

"U-um, yes," She starts in a tear-stained voice. "She has blonde hair to her shoulders, brown eyes, and-" the voice of the woman was cut short when I clicked the power button on the TV remote. Dad mumbles something in his sleep, and shifts on the couch with another grumble. I wander into the kitchen, make a ham and cheese sandwich, and head back upstairs to write again.

The next morning I wake up at the regular time. That's a lie. I wake up around 3 AM, covered in my own sweat. I try to get back to sleep, but nothing works. Instead, I use the now five hours until I have to get to school to get ready. I'm ready in about an hour. The sun is still asleep behind the mountians and buildings, and I wonder if the hospital is open yet. I slip on my shoes, scrawl out a note for my dad, and head out the door. The early morning breeze tickles my skin, and I shiver, tugging my pale dandelion sweater closer to me. My mud-covered sneakers pad softly on the sidewalk, and it's the only thing I can hear, with the exception of the faint engines of cars below. It takes about five minutes to get to the 24/7 general store, and I'm probably the only one there. I approach the cashier who looks half-asleep quietly.

"Excuse me?" I ask in a subtle voice, hardly above a whisper. Her eyes snap open, and it looks like she tries her best to straighten her posture.

"W-what can I uh, help you with?" She responds in a groggy voice, rubbing her eyes and trying to wipe away the small stain of dried saliva below her lip.

"Do you have any flowers?"

"F-ah, flowers? Y-yeah I think we might…" Her lanky finger pushes up her glasses and scratches at the back of her head, ruffling her messy bob-cut. I follow her to a table pushed against a window near the front. "Take your pick." I choose a small bouquet of simple white daisies and pay seven sixty-three for them.

Next I get to the hospital. I enter, holding the tiny bouquet gingerly. The cashier had allowed me to write a note on a small card that she had connected to the wrapping.

"Uhm, excuse me?" I say when I get to the front desk. The woman also looks half-asleep, and irritated.

"Yeah?" She asks in a voice that matches with her appearance.

"Do you think you could deliver these to Mr. Dragneel's room, please?"

"Natsu Dragneel?"

"Y-Yes.

"Yeah, fine. I'll get them delivered later, thanks."

"Thank you very much." That's all I say before leaving the building. I still have time to spare before I have to leave for school, quite a bit of time in fact. I can't decide what I want to do for nearly four hours. Maybe I'll write, or make a big breakfast for Dad and me. No, then I'd have to buy groceries. While I'm walking home, I turn left instead of straight.

"Lucy?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. McGarden, but could I talk to Levy?"

"Sure, come right in, I'll go wake her up. The milk's in the fridge if you'd like any."

"Thank you." Did Levy know about Natsu? I just needed someone to talk to, I guess. I'm not sure why I really came. Why do I feel so stuck? What do I feel stuck on?

"Lucy it's almost 4:30 AM, what's wrong?" I try to respond but the tears lock my words in my throat. I turn in my chair, and Levy gasps when she sees my tears.

"I don't know what's wrong," I choke out.


End file.
